TMC slams govt over the decline of AER of crop husbandry from 4.2% to 2.8%

New Delhi: The While reports indicate allocating funds for providing low-interest loans and tax incentives to boost startups in the agricultural sector in the Union Budget 2023-24, opposition parties on Tuesday slammed the Union Government over the Agriculture Expenditure Ratio (AER). Trinamool Congress member of Rajya Sabha Dola Sen said that it is very unfortunate that India's AER of crop husbandry has dropped from 4.2 per cent to 2.8 per cent in the last few years.

During the discussion on the Supplementary Demands for Grants, which Lok Sabha passed last week authorising the government to spend an additional Rs. 3.25 lakh crore in the current financial year, Sen mentioned, "Even the expenditure on food storage fell from 5 per cent to 3.6 per cent during the same period of time. The expenditure on agricultural research or sustainable agriculture is also getting declined day by day."

A study by the Foundation of Agrarian Studies (FAS) claimed that India's public expenditure on agriculture as a fraction of total expense fell to 9.5 per in 2019-20 from 11 per cent in 2010-11 amid a sharp fall in the Union government's expenditure on agriculture as a share of gross value added (GVA) by the sector. The report, released on May 20, 2022, was based on data on government (both central and state) expenditure on the agriculture sector, including crop production, livestock, fisheries, forestry, irrigation and rural development.

Sen also added that "... sustainable agriculture is the need of the hour for climate crisis mitigation."

The Upper House member further raised the export duty imposed on GI Tagged Gobindobhog Rice by 20 per cent. TMC, which is the ruling party in West Bengal, even earlier also raised the issue on the Floor of the House and its members claimed that farmers are suffering due to a huge amount of export duty.

She also asked the Centre not to discriminate against non-BJP-ruled states in fertiliser allocation. "In the last year, during Rabi season, 1.75 LMT fertiliser was used for potato farming, whereas, this year 0.595 LMT fertiliser has been provided from the Union Government's agriculture department," the RS member added.

On the other hand, both Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MPs in the Upper House slammed the government for "gross miscalculation of expenditure" in the Budget and sought to know whether there was any "misplaced focus" when the funds were allocated. Congress' Amee Yajnik asked, "The moot question that arises is how come there is so much error in planning? I would like to know from the honourable finance minister was it devoid of any priorities or was there any misplaced focus when the monies were allocated?"

Whereas, K Keshava Rao of the BRS said this could be due to a "lack of control in preparing the Budget". CPI-M member John Brittas brought the attention of the House towards high inflation in the country and stated the rise in the currency to Rs. 29.17 lakh crore at present from Rs. 17.74 lakh crore in 2016.